CHORUS OF THE INITIATED (from "The Frogs")
by: Aristophanes
- OW we go to dance and sing
- In the consecrated shades;
- Round the secret holy ring,
- With the matrons and the maids.
- Thither I must haste to bring
- The mysterious early light;
- Which must witness every rite
- Of the joyous happy night.
-
- Let us hasten -- let us fly --
- Where the lovely meadows lie;
- Where the living waters flow;
- Where the roses bloom and blow.
- Heirs of immortality.
- Segregated, safe and pure,
- Easy, sorrowless, secure;
- Since our earthly course is run,
- We behold a brighter sun.
- Holy lives -- a holy vow --
- Such rewards await them now.
This English translation, by John
Hookham Frere, of 'Chorus of the Initiated' is reprinted from
Greek Poets in English Verse. Ed. William Hyde Appleton.
Cambridge: The Riverside Press, 1893. |
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